Corporate-finance

I think the book's treatment of valuation is too academic. The author should use more practical examples.

I've been looking for a practical step by step book on equity analysis from a practitioners viewpoint. This is it. Other books try to take shortcuts. This book does not take short-cuts, but neither is it bogged down with unncessary academic exercises. If you really want to understand how to do valuation and applied equity analysis I can't recommend any book more highly. It is head and shoulders above anything else out there. Penman's book (from Columbia Business School) is also good but it is a VERY serious and weighty book that probably should only be attacked after you have read this one. Get this book by English and you will not be sorry. I have spent way too much time reading hundreds of other books that weren't nearly as educational. Again, however, it is only for the serious investor.

James English's "Applied Equity Analysis" is a how-to manual on evaluating stocks based on his 20 years of experience at JP Morgan. The book is very well-written and readable since the author employs plain english (no pun intended) to make his three major points: 1) accounting numbers--while by no means perfect--are excellent tools in evaluating stocks, 2) accounting-based stock valuation is superior to (but does not neccessarily supplant) cash flows, and 3) competition ensures that eye-popping financial performance doesn't last forever.

Contrary to another reviewer, English employs excellent examples to clarify and explain his points. Some examples: Gateway 2000's earnings history was used to explain how to find and interpret non-recurring items (NRI) on financial statements. Ratio analysis was demonstrated by looking at the PC industry in 1998. Emerson Electric was the company chosen to show why mature companies were still good buys. Many other examples abound, and English does a successful job in tying their relevance to his arguements.

But successful use of examples is not just the only strength of the book. The author also tackles a range of topics complete with insightful and clear discussions: the flaws of the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH), Economic Value Added (EVA), financial statement analysis, fundamental analysis, etc.

A quick glance at the table of contents below gives you an idea of the scope of English's book. I highly recommend this book to not just Wall Street analysts, anyone who is interested in finding fundamental value in evaluating stocks instead of following the crowd.

Pt. 1Getting Started
Ch. 1A Day in the Life
Ch. 2Fundamentals of Equity Valuation
Ch. 3Strategy and Competition I: The Firm's External Environment
Ch. 4Strategy and Competition II: The Firm's Internal Competitive Resources
Ch. 5Fundamentals of Stock Behavior
Pt. 2The Basic Tools
Ch. 6Reading a Financial Statement: The Accuracy, Sustainability, and Predictability of Financial Information
Appendix 6-1Gateway Financial Statements
Ch. 7Reading a Financial Statement: the Composition of Returns
Appendix 7-1Comparative Financial Analysis: Personal Computer Industry
Ch. 8Reading a Financial Statement: Early-Stage Companies and Investment Capacity
Ch. 9Reading a Financial Statement: Later-Stage Companies and the Transition to Maturity
Ch. 10Economic Value Added: An Alternative to Traditional Analysis Techniques
Appendix 10-1Gateway's Cost of Capital
Pt. 3Financial Models
Ch. 11Financial Modeling: Base Case Assumptions and Model Design
Appendix 11-1Dell Computer Corporation Consolidated Statement of Income
Ch. 12Financial Modeling: The Income Statement and Balance Sheet
Ch. 13Financial Modeling: The Statement of Cash Flows
Pt. 4Equity Valuation
Ch. 14Valuation: Foundations and Fundamentals
Ch. 15Combat Finance: Relative Methods and Companion Variable Models
Ch. 16Hybrid Valuation Techniques
Ch. 17The Quirky Price/Earnings Ratio
Ch. 18Valuation of Speculative Stocks
Ch. 19Equity Analysis and Business Combinations
Pt. 5Getting It Down on Paper
Ch. 20Financial Writing: Don't Bury the Lead
Bibliography
Index

The text gets 5 stars for the orientation, organization, and the on-line resources for the text. It describes exactly what you would want in an Applied Corporate Finance course. Unfortunately, I have to deduct 3 stars because the text contains too many typos and smple calculations which I specifically want my students not to make. This has been frustrating for my students, as well as myself. However, I am confident that when this problem is cleaned up, the book will be among the best Applied Corporate Finance text in the market. I strongly recommend a new, corrected edition.

Its easily the best book on corporate finance (yeah! I have read brearley and myers, benninga, ...).

Highly recommended. If you want to MASTER corporate finance. simply buy and read the book. The case studies and excel spreadsheets are very good. Another recommendation for a good financial analysis book is the book by eric helfert - financial analysis. Both books teach finance in common speak which goes a long way in understanding this topic for a new student.

This book is one of my best investments I have ever made. It is perfectly suited for 1st year MBA students with no prior exposure to finance. The first principles chart appearing at the beginning of each chapter always drags the students to the basics of why we are doing things. Prof Damodaran seems to be an excellent teacher and makes corporate finance a fun subject. The support web site has wealth of information and most importantly solutions to problems(I have never understood why many books hardly bother to give answers to problems)are given. Don't do a corporate finance course without this book.